How has the pandemic affected your ability to pay your rent or mortgage?

Due to the pandemic and the little effort my husband has mad in taking care of himself, I have had to leave him. I am now digging into my savings to pay my rent, which is a temporary place as I could not find a landlord that would rent a dog friendly place for less than 6 months. I will have to move again in March or February and I feel really frustrated that the renting system in London is benefiting only the rich and has no thought about us women going through a separation and having to leave a secure home (because of course I cannot even afford a mortgage as usually men do). So i am left to use my savings, have no home security, the London landlords are anti dogs, anti women in transition and i am so gutted.

I am going to get slated for this I know but I get full housing benefit due to my disability and being is social housing so my ability to pay my rent has been unaffected.

However, I am only allowed a maximum of £6,000 in saving before money starts being deducted from my benefits and I have never reached this saving cap, I did start the pandemic with £4,000 in savings which I was hoping to use to pay for someone to come in and redecorate (as the council no longer provide someone if you cannot do it yourself) and to replace some of my furniture, but this has been impossible as with the increase in energy and food bills my savings have been decimated helping me to meet my daily living expenses.

I am really worried about how I will make ends meet next year and moving forward as costs rise but my income doesn't - don't get me wrong I am very grateful and appreciate how lucky I am to live in this country (even though I was born here) and to be able to access benefits to support my life as I am too ill to work enough hours to do so.

I am also very worried about my care package from social services being reduced as more and more people are becoming disabled but the funds going into the services we need are not rising to cover the costs - it is becoming more and more that all social services need to do to be covering their statutory duty is to ensure you are fed, nappy changed, washed and breathing that is not a quality of life.

We need a proper serious debate in this country as to what standard of life we want the "safety net" services to provide and then how they should be funded to ensure there is enough money to cover those costs.

I have experienced 2 Home fuel increases this year and more is expected in the new year. The company I use is in receivership. I am concerned about price rises in all aspects of life. It is harder to save for a rainy day or old age which is an additional worry. I am also worried about the costs of future home repairs. The Local Council, London Assembly and Government must all look to see how they can help citizens.

Of all the classifications listed in the Survey, mine was not covered, but there must be thousands, if not millions of elderly people in my situation. In short, I owned and still own my apartment which is in a small Retirement block. I live off two main pensions which enable me to meet my living costs with ease. These costs include Council Tax, a fairly high Service Charge, a moderate Ground Rent, electricity consumption and insurance costs.

We didn’t get any assistance, my partner lost all his income as self employed- we had to take an interest holiday… so we have directly lost around 25k as a result and no benefits or gov assistance. Yes we can now pay our mortgage but we are 6 months behind where we were.
Now all bills are skyrocketing, I doubt I’ll get a pay rise this year as I’m in public sector. I don’t know how we’re going to keep things going if this continues

Yes, since the pandemic started. Everything has changed. My income has dropped significantly. I’m very grateful for support I have received. I was able to pay my rent, ect. But I have lost my job , which took me a long time to build a reputation and clients base. Hopefully everything will be alright. My savings finished, and my debt increased. I’m doing any job I can find at the moment, proudly worked during the first lockdown in a hospital, then as a healthcare assistant. And now creating my business again from zero. My credit history is no good at all right now, and being Self Employed it’s nearly impossible to take even government help, at least with my bank which is Barclays. I’m struggling to pay Bounce Back Loan which I took from them.
My quality of life has also changed. And unfortunately not in a better way.

I was made redundant from a full-time job in July 2020 as a consequence of corporate cost-cutting in the context of the pandemic. I have not secured another full-time job or regular income since then. I did manage to maintain my mortgage payments for a while, but have since had to renegotiate and reduce these, as they were unsustainable at the previous level. My quality of life and my savings have both been adversely impacted as a result of this situation, although I am not yet in need of any specific support.

The pandemic has not altered financial situation too badly, however I now am cautious about heating and energy bills. But one situation which has proved difficult is that where I live I'm now home a lot more and as it's an area of affluent housing there are constant building works happening all around it. Today I'm informed there is a planning application to build townhouses directly behind the block I live in. This will mean two years of being next to a very big building site with work five days a week from 8 to 5pm and for this I pay a high rent.

Like many people, I'm better off financially just because I can WFH. My job is not affected by lockdown (our customers also WFH) and I'm saving money just by going into the office only twice a week.
I also have more time as no time is spent commuting, so although I have no family to spend time with, I can plan way better. I can sleep until later, use lunch break to do some chores like putting a washing machine, shopping, cooking, etc... I even started an online course, which before was not possible as I work shifts.
I don't feel comfortable sharing indoors space with strangers, so I'm missing out on meeting new people and simple activities like cinema or swimming But I'd like if I said my mental health has suffered massively.
The worst, apart from the worry about catching covid, has been not seeing family for over a year, not meeting friends and having to delay getting things done at home due to lockdown restrictions. But I know why we're doing this and that it's temporary, so I take it as a small discomfort to help us all out of this.

I have had severe issues with my housing association always, but they have worsened during the pandemic. When I raise the issues, they become aggressive and intimate me until I drop the repair requests and other issues. I am really concerned about the lack of regulation of housing associations, the Ombudsman is useless and no one is holding them to account. No one should be stuck in an unhealthy home during lockdown.

I am 27, an becoming a homeowner but alone, so sole responsibility going forward and watching all bills soaring and worried about managing as time goes on. Why are there affordable homes schemes for 60+ but nothing like this for young people like myself striving to be a homeowner, instead the government seem happy to allow young people to buy shared ownership knowing that these flats are grossly overpriced and they will never be able to buy the whole place, and may have to sell at a loss or worse as we have seen reported on television people trapped in places not fit for purpose, with cladding etc. then losing their properties. Why is there so little help for young londoners wishing to buy?

I am sharing a tiny mouldy room in a flat with a filthy live-in landlord, since the pandemic this is also the office. Yes, I can keep up with my rent eventhough it is increadibly high but I am not in a position to move. The rental market/housing market here is an absolute mess! If there was decent legal protection of people renting property there was no need for any agents or 12month+ fixed contracts. People are stuck in horrible contracts, living in neglected and hazardous housing after being robbed and harrassed by dishonest agents. This could be fixed easily with the right legal frame work (it works in other countries too).
Apart from that: 1 in 52 people in London do not have a home to stay in while there are more bedrooms than people in the capital... The number one problem of people not having a home is - "suprise" - not having a home.
The system isn't just broken since the pandemic or Brexit, eventhough they might worsen the situation.
The law currently protects and supports wealthy people, property owners (esp. when they own multiple properties/investment firms) and the financial industry that accumulates wealth through investments and poorly designed mortgage incentives (buy to let is an absolute disaster!!!). This needs to change drastically for the housing situation in London to improve.

I sold my property just before the pandemic. Due to the restrictions that followed and the subsequent rise in property prices along with a scarcity of homes on the market, we have not been able to find a new home and have been staying with various family members for the past 2 years.

I moved from one rental house share to another during the pandemic due to a difficult living situation. My rent and bills have increased but my wages have been cut by 20% as I was forced to go down to 4 days a week in order to keep my job. I struggle financially since this has happened, and worry that I can’t afford any increase in rent or to move when my current contract expires. Rent in london is unaffordable and it’s scary. I don’t understand how anyone can justify these prices. No wonder there are so many homeless people it’s easy to see how you would end up in that situation.

At the start of the pandemic I was struggling with London sized mortgage debt repayments because of forced overspend wrought by gang leaders entirely naive to the scope of funding for what they have provided for free. There is a real schism between those who work to struggle to pay London’s extreme housing cost, and those who become jealous whilst cash poor but extraordinarily provided for in the most expensive city in Britain, one of the most expensive in the world.

As a struggling worker living in a mixed bag of tenant rentals for 15 years, then a struggling mortgaged first time buyer for a further 11 years, with periods of benefit entitlement in between, I know exactly what I am talking about, and require those who see rent and mortgage paying as a walk in the park to grapple with mortgage debt first before being dim enough to cause more violence abs death driven only by ignorant assumption.

I had to stay with someone else since the pandemic started due to our home being overcrowded and not being able to work, distance, or have any space. I cannot find a place of my own and am concerned about being able to afford it when young people are being punished through the tax system. I cannot depend upon inherited wealth and am unsure if living outside of London is safe as a woman of colour. I am concerned about quality of life as London is so polluted, cramped, and full of stressed people.

This country has a rigged property system where property developments and ready supply of mortgages keep enough people in the speculative ownership of real estate to prevent any full-scale overhaul of how property in the private or local authority rental sectors is managed and controlled.

The German system especially seems to operate efficiently in managing rents and ensuring security of tenancy by delegating powers to the regional state authorities in capping rents charged and reducing property speculation. Labour made noises a few years ago about introducing such a system in the UK but all seems to have gone quiet since then?

I struggle to pay my rent due to reduced work hours and rising cost of living.